There are 225 acres off Exit 8 in Jasper County that some are hoping to carve up.

If Robert Frantz of Sun City gets his way, the land will turn into an ice hockey stadium, traumatic brain injury center, veterans theme park, New Orleans-style shopping avenue, charter school, water park, film academy, performing arts center, "space hotel," and other things.

When I was a reporter in Kalamazoo, Mich. the leasing manager of my apartment complex paid me a visit one day.

The skeletal remains of my Christmas tree had to go, he told me. It was a fire hazard.

Also, it was late February.

So I threw the crispy little thing off the balcony and ran downstairs to drag it to the curb.

I'd been working so much that I was hardly home to notice my tree was still up. After standing for two months, it was mostly nude except for a few ornaments, since most of its needles had fallen off. But yeah, it was basically kindling.